Vulnerability Science: A Response to a Criticism of the Ballistic ResearchLaboratory's Vulnerability Modeling Strategy

摘要

There is a certain kind of technical work performed by several DoD Laboratoriesand Activities as well as by aerospace firms and consultants. The work is traditionally called 'vulnerability analysis', about 150 of the workers toil in the Vulnerability/Lethality Division (VLD) of the Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL). This paper will try to illuminate issues about what these people are doing and should be doing, especially with respect to ground vehicles. The arguments will have an important bearing on the question of what we should be trying to accomplish when we develop computer simulations in support of our vulnerability/lethality (V/L) mission. A recent statement of BRL's V/L mission is as follows: Provide Objective, Quantitative Vulnerability and Lethality, Assessment Data for Decision and Operational Analysis, and Means to Reduce Vulnerability and Enhance the Lethality of BLUE systems. This mission statement is probably not very different from those of other DoD elements with V/L responsibilities. Note that of the two parts of the mission statement one is essentially scientific (Objective, Quantitative ... data) while the other is essentially practical (Reduce ... and Enhance).